License plate frames with lighting are usually not appealing to a motor vehicle enthusiast because of the type of lighting system most often used called LED's. Using LED's on license plate frames can often cause a bulky awkward appearance due to the design of the LED and its circuit required to run them. This also limits the variety of color to mainly a red, blue, green, or white. Visual cosmetic appeal, design and usefulness of a motor vehicle accessory are really what determine whether a motor vehicle owner desires to add an accessory to their vehicle. Other forms of license plate frames that have advertisements or designs on them are formed from metal, plastic or composite materials to be raised or recessed in the form of text or a design with the material painted, polished or partially engraved which is very common.
Both U.S. Pat. No. D 455,106 S to Yang (2002) and U.S. Pat. No. D 327,915 to Anderson et al. (1992) show illuminated license plate frames. These license plate frames using a direct current power source, have an illuminated boarder on the frame with conventional lighting at the time they were patented, for example the use of neon tube as they illuminate.
Both of these license plate frames are thick but neither shows a lot of design or text for advertisement and or logos. So in retrospect this is the reason the titles of these patents fit the description of illuminated license plate frames because their only function is to illuminate.
Another design U.S. Pat No. D 474,724 to Wang (2003) show a “LICENSE PLATE FRAME EMBELLISHED WITH A DRAGON HAVING LED ILLUMINATED EYES” once again using a direct current power source. This design is more in depth with detail by using raised and recessed areas on his design. Wang also used an advance in illuminating technology by incorporating LED's in place for the eyes of the dragon. This is a great advancement for motor vehicle enthusiast; however, it is still a thick design and if more LED's were added it would take more space for the LED's themselves and there circuits and in turn the design would not have as much detail unless the license plate frame was even thicker than before, which would make it less appealing to the motor vehicle enthusiast.
In 1979 Auto Shack first opened and in 1987 the company's name was changed to AutoZone®. The company known as AutoZone® has sold many license plate frames. One in particular is the license plate frame that is illuminated by neon lighting and as far as I can tell, it may be Yang's illuminated license plate frame patented in 2002. However it could be from another inventor, but once again there are no text advertisements, no such designs that would be considered as conflicting and it is designed with a thick build.
Summit Racing which is based in Summit County Ohio and has sold auto parts and accessories for 35 years. There are two accessories that Summit Racing offers that are closely related to illuminated license plate frames. One of which has the illuminate on the lower portion that would direct the lighting upward to illuminate the license plate itself. The other is a license plate frame that has a LED brake light as the illuminate located on the lower portion of the license plate frame. Both of which are lacking in design, appeal and are made with a very thick build.
None of the prior art particularly describes an illuminable license plate frame having front and back portions and surface indicia imprinted thereon wherein the surface indicia is illuminated by strip lighting housed between the front and back plates. Accordingly, there is a need for a license plate frame that is produced using the method or design of electroluminescent lighting technology recessed into the back of a license plate frame to provide a light source to illuminate through text advertisement and or a design cut through the license plate frame itself providing a thin, appealing accessory to the motor vehicle enthusiast.